The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 3128: A Thriving Scene

After leaving Fulgrim, Solzhenitsyn spent some more time in the monastery fortress dealing with Chapter and system administrative matters. Since no administrative officer had been appointed after Ustad's departure, a considerable amount of work had accumulated. Although each planet had its own management system and didn't require intervention in everything, the system-level affairs increased with the system's prosperity. The Nason System Development Planning Committee, as the coordinator, didn't dare to act arbitrarily on major issues.

For example, the most pressing issue was the colonization and development of Nason III. Previously, this planet was 'borrowed' by the Tiger Claws Chapter for a period, so no specific arrangements were made. After the Tiger Claws left, Solzhenitsyn ordered the commencement of planning for the planet's development.

The plan was completed in a year, but due to the lack of a leader, it was shelved, leaving the planet in a state of basic neglect.

However, Nason III was not a simple planet. According to the extensive explorations by the Mechanicus priests, it was confirmed that there were extremely large reserves of promethium beneath the planet's vast sands!

Promethium, for the Imperium, is akin to blood. It may not be rare, but there is always a need for more. The main source of promethium is the atmosphere of gas giants, such as Nason VII in the Nason system, which is currently the primary source. However, the extreme temperatures and pressures of gas giants make its extraction cost the highest, and its production is not easily increased.

Secondly, a certain amount of promethium exists under the thick ice layers of some frozen planets, but its extraction is equally difficult, and the reserves are often very limited.

Nason III, however, is the highest quality promethium mine, namely surface promethium. It is hidden under a thin crust, requiring only the simplest machinery to extract, and the planet's environment is not too harsh, making it very convenient to build large-scale collection stations, as well as transportation and storage facilities.

Therefore, the entire development plan revolves around this. With joint investment from Nason IV United Investment Company, Yashan Chemical Consortium, and several banks of Nason IV, large-scale promethium wells will be constructed. Considering the planet's arid environment and limited water resources, the population does not need to be too large, only concentrated in 2-3 cities. These cities will be built near large promethium mining areas, employing some residents as collection workers, while others can engage in various commercial or service industries. In the future, a large number of workers and technicians will come here to settle. In addition, utilizing the planet's strong light, large-scale solar power stations can be built to provide electricity for industry. The extracted promethium will naturally be sold by the Yashan Chemical Consortium, but 20% of the output must be sold to the system's central bank at a standard price as reserves.

Undoubtedly, this is a commercial development activity. Although the leader is the official of Planet Nason IV, private enterprises are also involved. Solzhenitsyn does not object to this, after all, it is best for the private sector to organize economic production activities themselves, which can save a lot of trouble, as long as these activities are regulated.

For example, promethium stations were originally established by the government, but with the development of cities and the sharp increase in energy consumption, existing promethium stations are completely unable to meet the residents' living requirements, and administrative power cannot expand so quickly. Therefore, some private contractors emerged. Although their prices are the same as official promethium stations, their services are much better, and they can directly lay pipelines to residents' homes, setting up valves to charge according to usage. Although official promethium stations also have this function, their actual action efficiency is not very high due to insufficient manpower. These private promethium stations are very efficient, eliminating the residents' trouble of regularly transporting heavy promethium canisters. Therefore, they have flourished, spawning a large number of chemical companies and even consortia in just over a decade, occupying a considerable proportion in the cities.

After confirming that there were no major problems with the entire process, Solzhenitsyn finally approved the plan, and Nason III would soon enter an era of great development.

In addition to these planet development affairs, Solzhenitsyn also attended the launching ceremony of several new ships, including 2 Lunar-class cruisers and 7 Ur-class Nova-class frigates built by Nason IV. They all started construction before the Tyranid War and were completed in just three years, demonstrating the improvement of Nason IV's shipbuilding capabilities. Furthermore, there is a Mercury-class battlecruiser under construction in the shipyard, which is Nason IV's first attempt to build a large warship. During the Great Whirlpool Expedition, the Mercury-class battlecruiser Serpent of the Barca Fleet left a deep impression on Solzhenitsyn. Perhaps because he had commanded the Eldar fleet, he personally preferred this type of high-mobility, high-firepower warship, and the requirements for defense could be reduced accordingly.

Originally, this unique ship type was strictly kept secret by the Barca Fleet, but Solzhenitsyn's network in the Storm Zone was already considered to be heaven-reaching. He quickly contacted the ship design sages of Griffin IV and obtained the complete design plan of the Mercury-class from them through a secret transaction. Coincidentally, the length of the Mercury-class did not reach the level of a battleship, and the expanded Nason IV shipyard could just accommodate its keel.

In addition to Nason IV, Nason V's shipyard also provided 3 Viper-class missile destroyers and 4 Nova-class frigates. Although the quantity was not large and there were few ships, it was a good start, because its newly expanded shipyard already had 3 Lunar-class ships under construction at the same time.

Thanks to the sufficient food supply, improved sanitation and medical conditions, and improved treatment of jobs, the total population of the Nason system also exceeded 150 billion. Solzhenitsyn could not help but sigh that humanity's greatest power is, in a sense, its reproductive capacity. As long as the environment is slightly better in all aspects, a population explosion is likely to occur. For example, in the ten years of reform in Nason V, the average annual population growth rate reached a staggering 3%.

Given the population expansion, Solzhenitsyn also moderately increased the size of the Auxiliary Army. Vatish and Pushtiban will recruit a total of 12 million soldiers in the future. This plan will be completed within five years. At the same time, the newly recruited soldiers will be sent to the Diocese in batches for rotation training. On the one hand, it is to conduct actual combat exercises, and on the other hand, it is to reduce the military pressure on the Diocese.

After working for nearly a week, Solzhenitsyn finally had time to breathe and gave himself a day off, returning to his former home, where Veronica and Viletz had been waiting for him.

After all, this day was also his birthday, which he had forgotten for many years. Veronica accidentally saw the mark left by Solzhenitsyn's mother on the calendar while cleaning the house and learned the time.

After a night of revelry, Solzhenitsyn briefly arranged the affairs of the Chapter the next day. Since the 3rd Company was left on the Victory's Scar as a representative, only the 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 11th Companies returned to the Nason system. Solzhenitsyn asked the 1st and 9th Companies to be responsible for the new batch of recruit recruitment, the 11th Company to recruit new soldiers themselves, the 4th Company to conduct seaworthiness and training of the new warships, and the 5th Company to watch the house. In addition, Luco continued to restore Saborn's work. He currently has 218 warriors, all of whom are new recruits selected from the White Templars and the Star Knights 10th Company.

Afterwards, Solzhenitsyn temporarily left in the name of inspecting Brakato, although he did go there and conducted a simple inspection, but the real purpose was to return to the Eternal Royal Court.

As a result, as soon as he returned to the Royal Court, he saw a scene that made him laugh and cry.